A Tribute to Cable Employees This Labor Day
The past year and a half has seen its ups and downs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but through it all, cable employees have remained steadfast in their commitment to delivering the internet and television services that millions of Americans across the country depend on to continue working, learning, and connecting. As America prepares to celebrate the upcoming Labor Day holiday, it's important to reflect and pay tribute to the numerous field technicians, engineers, customer service agents, television showrunners and producers, and all industry employees who work around the clock to keep
TV Stats: TV's Innovative Shows Impact On Screen and Off
For decades, TV has led the way for bold storytelling. TV shows have raised the bar repeatedly, challenging conventional wisdom of what is commercially successful as well as what viewers will connect with. Over the past decade, the TV market has exploded with new options as more and more streaming services launch. But competition is a good thing, and the result has been a win for viewers, as more high-quality entertainment becomes available every day. But through all this change, one thing has stayed the same—innovative TV comes from cable networks. In fact, in 2020, cable networks were
GLAAD Shares Why LGBTQ Representation in Children's Media is So Important
Over the last two decades, the United States and much of the world has experienced a dramatic shift in attitudes over acceptance of LGBTQ people. During that time, on screen representation has soared, thanks in part to big names in cable TV (such as HBO or Showtime) taking what was then considered a risk and producing shows that not only portrayed LGBTQ people in positive ways, but also had them as central characters. This expanding of perspectives on screen has been met with critical acclaim as well as commercial success. Where conventional wisdom once held that queer characters and story
AMC's 'The Walking Dead' Prepares for its Final Year
It's the beginning of the end for AMC's "The Walking Dead," and for zombie fans galore, it's been a wild ride. The 11th and final season of the show premieres this weekend and will stretch into late 2022. Since the show's debut in late 2010, the post-apocalyptic zombie TV series has experienced massive social followings like no other, and has spun off into additional shows that include "Talking Dead," "Fear the Walking Dead, and "Walking Dead: World Beyond." And "The Walking Dead" universe continues to expand. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the popular online video game Fortnite brought in new
Disney Channel and Disney Junior Are Building a More Inclusive Future
TV networks have a large reach and heavy influence on kids, which is why it is so critical for children's programming to help kids understand more about people's differences and the world around them. Disney Channel and Disney Junior have long stood out from the crowd in their quest to create diverse and inclusive programming, and their animated shows continue to step up for the youngest audiences. At this year's Television Critics Association summer press tour, producers and cast members of some of their most popular animated kids shows spoke about the importance of having programming that
Broadband Data: Infrastructure
As Congress moves forward on the bipartisan infrastructure package, America’s broadband leaders are continuing their work to extend superfast networks to all Americans, from large urban communities to far-out mountain towns. And while federal funding will be important to help close gaps and jumpstart projects in traditionally difficult-to-serve regions, these areas are just a small percentage of the country. That’s because cable (and other) internet service providers have been investing in and upgrading networks in urban and rural communities for decades. In fact, cable internet providers
How Broadband Networks Fared During the Internet's Biggest Stress Test Ever
As America (hopefully) begins its climb out of the COVID-19 pandemic and many offices and schools are reopening, it's worth reflecting over the past 17 months how broadband networks performed and enabled our country to stay engaged and productive during this unprecedented public health crisis. After all, considering how quickly stay-at-home orders forced tens of millions of workers and students home, COVID-19 was undoubtedly the biggest stress test that the internet has ever faced. When the outbreak of COVID-19 caused states to issue stay-at-home orders across the country in March 2020, NCTA
The Kids Are Alright: Kids Street Delivers Fun, Educational Programming for Children and Families
As television has changed over the past decade, the same goes for children’s entertainment. Just like other media sectors, new technologies and distribution methods have ushered in a boom of rich educational kids’ content. One of NCTA’s newest members, cable TV network Kids Street (whose parent company, Condista, is also an NCTA member), is leading the way in providing diverse, education focused content for kids and families. Recently, NCTA interviewed Kids Street to find out more about their mission: NCTA: Talk a bit about Kids Street and what you do? Kids Street: Kids Street is an
Broadband Data: Closing the Digital Divide With Broadband Adoption Programs
While the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the digital divide in the United States, cable internet service providers have long been committed to providing connectivity to as many Americans as possible. Using a multi-pronged approach, at the start of the pandemic in 2020 cable ISPs responded to the global health crisis by further expanding their successful broadband adoption programs to more qualifying households. Over the past decade, low-cost broadband adoption programs have connected over 14 million Americans to the internet. These low-cost programs offer broadband service for as low
How Rural Broadband Can Help Agriculture Into the Future
The COVID-19 pandemic drove many to rely on America’s broadband networks like never before. Despite being a sudden shift, the story is a successful one. While European networks had to work with video streamers to reduce the file quality in order to facilitate the sudden shift in network usage, American broadband networks never experienced those issues. In fact, they adapted to changes in consumer behavior as cable internet service providers continually added capacity. For sure, one thing the last year and a half highlighted is how important a broadband connection has become in our daily lives